1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to checking the condition of various parts of automobiles and similar vehicles, and particularly to a gauge for checking an automobile frame before and after damage to the frame has been repaired in order to ascertain the extent of the damage and the correction thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During the performance of motor vehicle frame straightening operations in body shops scattered throughout the country, a difficulty frequency arises as to the degree of damage, or bending of the frame, which the vehicle frame has incurred. Further, it is also frequency difficult to ascertain when the vehicle frame has been properly straightened. Accordingly, in order to facilitate the determination of the amount of damage, or bending, sustained by the frame, various gauges have been devised which are intended to permit reading of the alignment of the frame of a vehicle in a simple, easy, and reliable manner.
One prior motor vehicle frame alignment measuring mechanism employs gauges suspended beneath the frame of an automobile so as to extend transversely outwardly from a common side of the frame in such a manner as to permit sighting along appropriate devices provided on the outward ends of the gauges and to determine alignment of the frame. This mechanism, and other similar known devices, have the advantage of being subject to clogging and jamming due to accumulations of dirt, and the like, in vunerable areas of the equipment. Further, the manner of adjustment of the sighting devices of the aforementioned patent cannot always be performed with the accuracy required of such measurements.
Another approach to obtaining a reading of the amount of deflection, or bending, of a vehicle frame is to provide the sighting points direclty beneath the vehicle. This arrangement, however, has the inherent disadvantage of being difficult to read.